VII. Pedia Sapiens: A Genesis Future on Earth and in the Heavens

1. Mind Over Matter: A Quantum, Atomic, Chemical Materiality

This section gleans and expresses how collective human acumen can lately delve into any depth and breadth so as to begin and carry forward a novel biospheric and biocosmic futurity. Through computation, visualization, instrumentation, satellites, daily web postings, some with hundreds of authors, and so on, rational, reasonable mind begins a new ordained recreation across quantum, elemental, protochemical, biomolecular, creaturely and societal phases. A notable approach increasingly adopted is to apply a sense of “material genomes” in prescriptive effect. But we emphasize that for a grand advent of a procreative, organic genesis, a woman's ecosmos for the sake of the children, enlightened human persons rule. We do not imply or endorse any artificial technology or machine take over or subservience.

Institute of Accelerating Change. www.singularitywatch.com.
A website hosted by entrepreneur John Smart which acts as a clearing house for many aspects of the "transhumanist" persuasion. A good place to find out what’s going in this area. Once again a listing is not an endorsement, but this movement is out there, and gives credence to an informed, creative enhancement of life, intelligence and galaxy.

Joint Quantum Institute. www.jqi.umd.edu.
An extensive research partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland. With a large, international staff, it is a premier endeavor to study and access this fecund quantascape as it opens for all intents and purposes to human ingenuity. And as one peruses, how amazing that we peoples as a sentient personsphere can initiate a new material nature by enhancing and reconceiving subatomic objects. See also, among many papers, Focus on Topological Quantum Computation by Jiannis Pachos and Steven Simon in New Journal of Physics (June 2014).

We are on the verge of a new technological revolution as the strange and unique properties of quantum physics become relevant and exploitable in the context of information science and technology. Quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of matter and energy on the smallest physical scales, is the most accurate theory of nature ever devised. Many of its predictions can be confirmed to 10 decimal places or more. Its principles explain a host of phenomena from the grand sweep of the Periodic Table of Elements to the everyday workings of lasers, microchips, light-emitting diodes and MRI medical scans. The ability to understand and manipulate objects at the quantum level is among the most urgent goals of 21st century science.

JQI’s Objectives are to “serve as a world-class research institute, conducting fundamental investigations of coherent quantum phenomena and thereby laying the foundation for engineering and controlling complex quantum systems capable of using the coherence and entanglement of quantum mechanics;” and to “provide a unique, interdisciplinary center for the interchange of ideas among atomic physics, condensed matter and quantum information scientists.”

QUROPE Quantum Information Processing and Communication in Europe. qurope.eu/manifesto.
A home site for this European venture for the adoption of a leading role in this materials and computational frontier. From this web page the May 2016 Quantum Manifesto document can be accessed as it extols how imaginative, technical human intellects can enter and advance this deepest domain. A note The Quantum Game in Nature Materials for April 2017 offers a perspective.

Singularity University. http://singularityu.org/overview.
Modeled on the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, an ambitious endeavor based on Ray Kurzweil’s future scenarios, with support from Google, and based at NASA Ames, Mountain View, CA, with the aim of “Preparing humanity for accelerating technological change.” A companion offing is the new documentary film by Barry Ptolemy “Transcendental Man” about Kurzweil’s well-intended prognostications, check this site: http://transcendentman.com. Of similar note is “The Coming Superbrain” by John Markoff in the New York Times for May 24, 2009. But in this case the producers name is perfect for all this hurtles on in the wrong, admittedly male, machine multiverse wherein life and human are alien accidents. However to imagine an intrinsically organic reality, which as a universal gestation has just reached its nativity singularity?

Singularity University aims to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies and apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s grand challenges.

Allhoff, Fritz, et al, eds.
Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology.
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
2007.
The philosopher editors have formed the Nanoethics Group (Google for website) as neither pro or con for these novel abilities to recreate nature and life at its fundamental levels but to air and address valid issues in this regard. A paper by theologian Ted Peters Are We Playing God with Nanoenhancement?, from which the quote, voices typical concerns. Clearly much work remains, a second scripture affirming a genesis universe with intended human co-creation would be helpful.

Rather, a biblically based theology affirms change and transformation rather than trying to retard scientific and technological advance. The Christian approach to ethics orients itself toward loving God and loving neighbor. The ethical question here would be: How can nanotechnology enhance the human capacity for loving God and neighbor? (174) Relevant here is the school of eschatological ethics within Christian theology. Based on Jesus’ promise of a coming kingdom of God and the New Testament vision of a future new creation, as eschatological orientation toward ethics celebrates transformatory change while trying to guide such change toward wholesome and loving ends. (182)

Alvarez-Rodriguez, U., et al.
Artificial Life in Quantum Technologies. arXiv:1505.03775.
University of the Basque Country theorists, led by Enrique Solano, blaze the frontiers of human uniVerse imaginations as this foundational realm becomes known by the same complex, organic, evolutionary sense as everywhere else. A “quantum biomimetics” is then evoked by which this cosmic genesis appears poised to be taken over, as intended, by to our phenomenal intention.

We develop a quantum information protocol that models the biological behaviors of individuals living in a natural selection scenario. The artificially engineered evolution of the quantum living units shows the fundamental features of life in a common environment, such as self-replication, mutation, interaction of individuals, and death. We propose how to mimic these bio-inspired features in a quantum-mechanical formalism, which allows for an experimental implementation achievable with current quantum platforms. This result paves the way for the realization of artificial life and embodied evolution with quantum technologies. (Abstract)

Arroyo, Marta et al.
A Stochastic Approach to Shortcut Bridging in Programmable Matter.Natural Computing.
Online September,
2018.
We cite this by MA, University of Granada, Sarah Cannon, UC Berkeley, Joshua Daymode and Andrea Richa, ASU and Dana Randal, Georgia Tech as an example of the cosmic evolutionary epic entering a radically novel phase of total makeover, a second Alpha one might say, as our intentional, globally informed, respectful humankinder may begin a new ecosmos (re)creation.

In a self-organizing particle system, an abstraction of programmable matter, simple computational elements called particles with limited memory and communication self-organize to solve system-wide problems of movement, coordination, and configuration. In this paper, we consider a stochastic, distributed, local, asynchronous algorithm for “shortcut bridging”, in which particles self-assemble bridges over gaps that simultaneously balance minimizing the length and cost of the bridge. Army ants of the genus Eciton have been observed exhibiting a similar behavior in their foraging trails, dynamically adjusting their bridges to satisfy an efficiency trade-off using local interactions. Our work gives a plausible explanation of how convergence to globally optimal configurations can be achieved via local interactions by simple organisms with some limited computational power and access to random bits. (Abstract excerpts)

Asano, Masanari, et al.
Quantum Information Biology: From Information Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics to Applications in Molecular Biology and Cognitive Psychology. arXiv:1503.02515.
Also noted in Quantum Complex Systems, an example of the current revolution to join life’s natural genesis with this physical foundation, an international team from Japan and Sweden waxes over how well this deepest informative source can be readily and beneficially integrated with and applied to evolution and intelligence. See also a book length version Quantum Adaptivity in Biology: From Genetics to Cognition by most of the same team (Springer, April, 2015).

We discuss foundational issues of quantum information biology (QIB) -- one of the most successful applications of the quantum formalism outside of physics. QIB provides a multi-scale model of information processing in bio-systems: from proteins and cells to cognitive and social systems. This theory has to be sharply distinguished from "traditional quantum biophysics". The latter is about quantum bio-physical processes, e.g., in cells or brains. QIB models the dynamics of information states of bio-systems. It is based on the quantum-like paradigm: complex bio-systems process information in accordance with the laws of quantum information and probability. This paradigm is supported by plenty of statistical bio-data collected at all scales, from molecular biology and genetics/epigenetics to cognitive psychology and behavioral economics. We argue that the information interpretation of quantum mechanics (its various forms were elaborated by Zeilinger and Brukner, Fuchs and Mermin, and D' Ariano) is the most natural interpretation of QIB. We also point out that QBIsm (Quantum Bayesianism) can serve to find a proper interpretation of bio-quantum probabilities. Biologically QIB is based on two principles: a) adaptivity; b) openness (bio-systems are fundamentally open). These principles are mathematically represented in the framework of a novel formalism -- quantum adaptive dynamics which, in particular, contains the standard theory of open quantum systems as a special case of adaptivity (to environment). (Abstract)

Atkinson, William.
Nanocosm: Nanotechnology and the Big Changes Coming from the Inconceivably Small.
New York: AMACON/American Management Association,
2003.
Predictions and speculations about a revolutionary future.

Bainbridge, William Sims.
Nanoconvergence: The Unity of Nanoscience, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
2007.
A National Science Foundation sociologist gathers and considers the august potentials of these four areas of novel human abilities to take up a new creation. A worthwhile entry to this subject literature broadly under the ‘nano’ banner.

Balakrishnan, Janaki and B. V. Sreekantan, eds.
Nature’s Longest Threads: New Frontiers in the Mathematics and Physics of Information in Biology.
Singapore: World Scientific,
2014.
Scientists and scholars from India wonder at apparent connections and unities between quantum spontaneities and life’s emergent complexity and consciousness. A typical paper might be Knowledge: its Hierarchy and its Direction by Apoorva Patel, an Indian Institute of Science physicist, which contains a summary of universe to human evolution as Hardware (bodily phenotypes) is recycled, while software (generative coding) is improved. So from our retro vista could the developmental course of cosmic genesis be appreciated as the ascendant passage and breakthrough unto our phase of a natural genome?

Organisms endowed with life show a sense of awareness, interacting with and learning from the universe in and around them. Each level of interaction involves transfer of information of various kinds, and at different levels. Each thread of information is interlinked with the other, and woven together, these constitute the universe — both the internal self and the external world — as we perceive it. They are, figuratively speaking, Nature's longest threads. (Publisher)

Ball, Philip.
A New Kind of Alchemy.New Scientist.
April 16,
2005.
Chemists are finding that clusters of atoms, a “super-atom,” composed on a certain number, such as 8, 20, 40, 58, or 92 atoms for aluminum, which completes the filling of its electron shell, takes on unique properties that are different from the original element.